


i've got this sentimental heart that beats

by aceAdoxography



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Child Abuse, Dream Bubbles (Homestuck), Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Temporary Character Death, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 06:41:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23846896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aceAdoxography/pseuds/aceAdoxography
Summary: Your name is Karkat Vantas and you don't know what's happening, but you can't let this strange alien die.
Relationships: Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas
Comments: 10
Kudos: 175
Collections: April 2020 - Titles I'll Never Use





	i've got this sentimental heart that beats

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Let's (Not) Try This Again](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23845741) by [twofoldAxiom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/twofoldAxiom/pseuds/twofoldAxiom). 



Your name is Karkat Vantas, and you don’t know where you are.

You’re 6 sweeps old, staring out a window at a bright blue sky. There’s light everywhere, but it doesn’t burn your skin or hurt your eyes. It’s hot as fuck but you don’t hear the cries of the undead. This isn’t Alternia, and you don’t know what’s happening.

You’re standing in a long hallway, lined with identical doors. You hear something happening above you. It sounds like fighting, and you should walk away. It’s dangerous, and if anyone discovers your mutant blood you’ll be culled on the spot.

But you’re curious, and you don’t know where else to go. You follow the noise. You find a stairwell and climb. The noises get louder. The sound of metal on metal, a gasp of pain. You reach the top floor and open the door just slightly, peeking out.

There’s a large alien-- an adult?-- standing over a smaller alien and--and

And you know him, this little alien, but you’ve never seen him before. He climbs to his feet, holding a broken sword in his shaking hands. There’s blood on him, on his arm, on the concrete roof, and it’s red red red 

You know without a doubt that this alien, this mutant, is going to be killed, and you _know_ him somehow, how do you know him? And you can’t let this happen, you can’t let him die.

You move faster than you ever have in your life, skidding in front of this strange, fragile, bleeding boy. You bare your teeth at the adult, your sickles blocking the blade but being ripped from your hand and

“That’s new,” the adult says, unphased. 

You’re going to die, but you’re going to go down fighting. You launch yourself at the alien, claws and teeth and 6 sweeps of rage unleashed. The sword cuts deep into your chest but you sink your claws into his shoulder and jerk them down, harsh and hard. You hope they scar, that this monster has your mark on him forever.

He tosses you aside and you snarl, pushing yourself to your hands and knees. The adult approaches you, swift but calm, and there’s a pain running through your center, and you hear Dave cry out and--

And you wake up.

You sit up, gasping, feeling your chest for the blade sticking through it but there’s nothing there. Just the phantom pain of something that never happened.

You’re in the common room of the meteor lab. You fell off the couch sometime during the dream bubble. You look over and see Dave, still asleep, still trapped.

Fuck, Dave. How could you have forgotten Dave? Fucking dream bubble bullshit. Dave is your best friend, you _love_ him--

Oh.

Oh shit.

You love him?

You don’t have time to process this because Dave wakes up, tangled in his cape, and he’s freaking out.

You tell him to breathe. He doesn’t. You grab his wrists, pin them down and sit on him. There’s a rumbling, clicking sound coming from your chest that you can’t help. He’s so fucking pitiable. You lean down, nuzzle your face against his. He stops struggling. 

"I'm okay. It was a fucking dreambubble, I'm sorry I didn't think- holy shit, Dave, that's what you grew up with?" you say. You let go of his wrists and he grabs at you, at your face and hair and horns--you blush at that but let him. You’d let him do anything to you. 

He cups your face gently in his hands and you feel soft and warm on the inside, even though he’s shaking.

“You died,” he says. He sounds so broken, so upset. You had no idea he cared so much about you. You’re friends, yeah, but you didn’t think…

"It was a dream,” you tell him. You can’t help but purr louder, click at him soothingly, lean your face into his hands. "I- well- I did die, but only in a dream. That was... really stupid of me, actually; I don't know why I thought that was going to do anything."

It was all instinct. Seeing Dave there, so small compared to his lusus, shaking and hurt but ready to continue fighting regardless; what else could you do? 

Dave laughs, and it’s a broken, shattered sound. His strange, clear human tears run down his face and he pulls you into him, into his chest. You hear his heartbeat and you wonder how he can let you this close, knowing you could claw him apart so easily. 

He runs his hands through your hair and laughs and cries and hiccups and you reach up and push his shades into his hair and stroke his face. You shush him, gently pap his cheek, wipe away the tears.

"I was fucking scared, man,” he admits, and you know that’s huge for him. You make a soft chirping noise, urging him on. "I was terrified."

“It’s okay,” you say. You grab his cape and wrap it around the two of you. It’s wrong for you to do this. Dave doesn’t understand what this is, what it means to you, but you’ve just realized you love him, that you’d die for him, and you let yourself be selfish. Just for now. “It’s okay.”

You lean in, nuzzle his cheek again. You want him to know he’s safe, that you’ll never hurt him, that you’ll die before you let anyone else hurt him. “You’re okay.”


End file.
